SURF is a German windsurfing magazine. You can buy the article online in their websitewww.surf-magazine.de
Go to : Test & Technics
Got to: Tests
Search for: Material für Leichtwind.

The article is all in German though.

26th April 2010 09:58 PM

pwindsurf

copy of article

does anyone have a copy (.pdf) of this article about the planing thresholds of different setups? if not, is there a link to a back issues page for surf magazine so i could purchase a copy of the article?

is surf a windsurfing magazine or a surfing magazine? this is an article that all the windsurf magazines should have tested on years ago .

thanks for the help

cheers

16th April 2010 08:10 AM

agrelon

I think they introduced this shape in 2010/09 so I guess it's still quite new. I don't know how much cheaper Naish boards are than SBs but they certainly don't seem to undergo as much R&D as SB... or maybe that's just because SBs marketing is insane, not really sure.

16th April 2010 06:03 AM

GURGLETROUSERS

Thank you Ken. Now I know it wasn't another make I was wondering about.

16th April 2010 03:46 AM

Ken

OK, here's the deal - I haven't been on a big freeride board for about 8 years. With ample wind, my iSonic 111, Formula 160 and HiFly Move all get on plane quickly and accelerate very fast with a clean water release. My last freeride board was a Techno 283 and it planed up nicely as well.

What I found in the short time I was on the 2008 Naish Freewide 130 was NOTHING like my past experiences on my boards when it comes to planing and accelerating. It just felt like it was stuck to the water.

Others may have a different opinion, but this is what I found.

15th April 2010 03:41 PM

GURGLETROUSERS

Ken. I think that when you state what you claim to be fact rather than just opinion (your original post) you ought to name names.After all, if the fault has been rectified on this years model but the older ones are still being bought second hand, people have a right to know .

Presumably the board was tested by some magazine or other at the time. couldn't you at least point us in that direction? We ought to be able to read between the lines if the test has any credibility, otherwise what is the point of testing!

15th April 2010 02:08 AM

Ken

Agrelon,

I am not ready to name the brand, since it looks like the 2010 model may have fixed the problem (from what I could see from the photos on the web site). I guess the board was designed for novice sailors to begin the freeride experience, but if it won't plane without a ton of power, then what a blunder.

I guess it is incumbent upon the buyer to know something about board design before buying, but in this case, most novice or intermediate sailors probably would not notice the soft rails or be aware of the impact.

It's also hard to believe that a major company with years of experience would design something like this, but to keep all of this in perspective, this is just my opinion and others could disagree. Therefore, I think it's best to not identify the brand.

14th April 2010 10:43 PM

agrelon

Bigger board and bigger sail, must have been a pretty s*** build/design. Would be interesting to know the brand in order to stay away from it...

14th April 2010 08:59 PM

Ken

Another issue impacting planing that became exceptionally clear yesterday - I was out on my iS 111 and a Maui Sails TR-4 7.6 in light conditions. A friend was on his new (I think it was an '08 or '09) 130 liter freeride board (unnamed, not Starboard) with a 8.0 Retro and was having considerable trouble getting it to plane. I am sailing by at 25 knots and he couldn't plane even with pumping.

I couldn't believe he was having that much trouble since he was an experienced sailor so I took it out for a test ride. I had the same problem, it was a "dog" and I never got it to break loose and plane flat and fast on the surface. The nose was high and the tail low with too much drag. Mast track all the way forward.

Then after closer inspection to see what was happening, I assumed that it was the VERY soft rails running all the way to the tail. The board just couldn't break away and plane with a clean release of the water, it just wrapped around the rails, holding it down.

The board was wide, light, plenty of volume, but what a piece of crap. I went to the companies web site and from what I could tell, the new model of the board has much sharper rails.

14th April 2010 12:46 AM

PG

It of course depends on where you sail.

When Surf tested FreeRace sails (like Gaastra GTX) in the size 8.5 they found that the Glide 7.5 did have more low end (both planing and speed), but on the other hand it had less top end (both speed and control).

The conclusion was that the Glide 7.5 is an excellent sail in places with light and stable wind, like where winds are thermal. In places with gusty and variable wind the Glide was thought to be too much of a wrestling match.

But it does prove an intersting point, there is not a single truth when it comes to sail size!

If the Glide 7.5 has more power than a freeride 8.5, then a Glide 8.5 has to be VERY powerful. It would be fun to try it...

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